now it is time for, "the last word". have a great night. now it is time for, "the last word". have a great night. >> tonight, there is just one more thing the republican party needs mitt romney to do. just one little thing. they need him to shut the -- heck up. >> so much for putting the election behind it. romney was recorded telling donors the reason he loss is. >> because president obama handed out big gift. >> wo, wo, wo. >> it is not elegantly stated i'm speaking off-the-cuff. >> i don't think that represents where we are as a party. >> it is not elegantly stated let me put it that way.

i'm speaking off-the-cuff. >> he needs to stop talking. >> the campaign is over. >> we need to move on. >> the voters have spoken. >> the majority of voters agreed with me. >> benghazi showdown. >> let me say specifically about susan rice. she has bun exemplary work. >> the president the united states is commander in chief. it is not exercise those responsibility. >> this goes back to a grudge since their 2008 election. >> this seems to be getting very political. >> mccain did not attend his classified brief on benghazi. >> this seems to be getting very political.

>> is it political or personal? >> mitt romney doesn't get it. he doesn't get the job republican ares want him to do after losing an election that they believe they could have won the job that republicans need mitt romney to do is help them forget the words mit and romney. he is failing at this new job just as miserably as he failed at the job of republican nominee for president. he finds himself rebuked today by those because he has once again be caught on tape saying what he thinks about the american people.

>> i absolutely resect that notion and description that is wrong. >> here is the difference then them. louisiana governor will be speaking at the next republican national convention in one capacity or another. and mitt romney will never be invited to a republican convention again for the rest of his life. here is what he added today about what mitt romney got caught say. >> this is completely unhelpful and not where the republican party need to go. look, if you want voters to like you. the first thing you have to do is like them first. and it is not helpful to tell voters that you think their votes were bought. you need to congratulate the president on his win and as a party we need to look forward. > giving away of free stuff is a hard thing to compete with.

>> center rubio said: >> republican new hampshire senator kelly, said this about the super rich loser who has no reason to ever return to his summer house in new hampshire. >> i don't agree with the comments. and my view is the campaign is over. and the voters have spoken and they want us to work together to solve our problem. >> alex wagner, the mankind of should have known somebody was going to press record. but here is a guy whose campaign was pretty much stopped in his tracks by the 47% tape and he keeps saying it.

>> there are 15 or 27 thing to say. he always believed what he said about the 47%. and a lot of republicans do too. they believe in the dichotomy of the makers and the takers. i have a theory. he is doing a great service to the republican party right now. he is acting the part of a column for bobby gindal and marco rubio and pretend that they are a party that welcomes people of color and has better ideas without having to do anything substantive. so they can run all over mitt romney putting tire treads on his legacy instead of saying this is what we were going to make our party better and change our party positions.

>> so all you have to do now, chris, is say, i don't agree with mitt romney and you are suddenly a republican are. >> but he is doing them that favor. >> but he did nothing. squat. he did not for the 12 million people in this country who are here without legal status. and but he had a great news cycle. this is a very widely held view on the right and among the republican party, i think the people on the romney campaign have told themselves the story of the defeat. i think this is common and you saw the view starting among the tea party folks and the red state was posting i am the 53%. i'm the people that are in the

makers and not the takers. this has become a central part of the rhetoric. >> it is worth mentioning, nobody said 44% that are uninsured are white. >> the notion that romney can explain away the lost this way, is also saying, we can't ever win i guess. because, wouldn't you have to take away -- >> he has blamed, he has blamed the number of debased that we have had. he has blamed the commission on presentational debates. he has blamed women and young voters. but he has only a matter of time. >> we have no hopes for new york. he wasn't hoping to win new

york. >> if this were the case if the democratic elections in america were that the party that handed out the most favors or gave away the most free stuff were the winner, then the democrats would win the most elections. then there is a version or left class analysis that wishes that they were the case and clearly we would run up the table because those are the ones that are getting crewed. but that is not the way that american politics worked. it shows a basic misunderstanding of american politics. they are complicated in the ways of the political sphere. if you don't understand that you cannot run for office.

>> caught in the crossfire. mr. rush limbaugh. i know you were working during his show today. i have him for you. >> so romney is out saying that obama was santa claus. where have we heard that before. and then bobby gindal said no. no. no. no so he is cutting my santa claus bit out from under me. it gets harder and harder here every day i have to tell you. >> it is hard for us because he is a jindal fan. also who looks more like santa claus. president obama or rush limbaugh. this is part of the republican party wanting to figure it out but not figure it out. rush has been -- people like him refuse to again, say look we've done this wrong. this isn't the party of the

future. we are an old america and we have to move forward in a real fashion. crossing rush limbaugh would be the clearest way that i'm trying to do something different. there are people on the right who have spoken up to say your fail ti to market of white christian grievance that is essential the media world that is killing you. and people are going to have to make a practical cost benefit analysis. there is no benefit but cost to the practitioners. either a because they believe their theories or b because they suck up to them. who is going to deal with them because they understand that in the long run that is a necessary

thing for the party to do. >> weekdays at 12 noon. >> and chris hayes up at 8:00 am saturday and sunday. thank you both for joining me. >> coming up. the republican lying attack against ambassador susan rice continues. and it turns out it is so important for john mccain to be out there lying about susan rice that he is missing important senate meetings about the very thing he is lying about. the attack in ben and in the rewrite tonight we'll see what the gang at fox news doesn't know about the city they work in, including just how much was destroyed here. this is something you are going to have to see.

it is coming up. having you ship my gifts couldn't be easier. well, having a ton of locations doesn't hurt. and my daughter loves the santa. oh, ah sir. that is a customer. let's not tell mom. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. fedex office. time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. buy now. save later.

john mccain has taken every chance he can get to go on tv and bash the president even though it means missing important senate briefings on that is right. what happened on benghazi. and next, republicans went to vegas today to try to figure out why they lost the election. and yeah, it gets kind of funny. that is next. i've been coloring liz's hair for years.

but lately she's been coming in with less gray than usual. what's she up to? [ female announcer ] root touch-up by nice'n easy has the most shade choices, designed to match even salon color in just 10 minutes. with root touch-up, all they see is you.

we've got to give our political organizational activity a very serious proctology exam. we need to look everywhere. >> republicans are getting anal about their loss but they are in vegas. at the meeting in las vegas, a state that president obama won easily. the most boring senator in the world wouldn't touch his sentence even though he was the governor that thought transvaginal ultrasound was so cool it.

>> they thought those why is that better for the average american family. >> it didn't occur to boring bob that they did a good job of explaining principles to most american families and they did a pretty good job of figuring out that that isn't better for them. than the democratic party position of prying to pay for the kind of government that most people want and need. louisiana governor who is busy making a name for himself these days as the principle attacker of mitt romney said this.

>> governor romney's campaign didn't lay out a specific vision with the american voters. biography and experience isn't enough to win an election. you have to check to the american people. i think this became a contest of personalities and chicago one that. >> boring bob mcdonald refused to share his kool-aide with ben bolshier on something that no one else in the room seemed to know. >> it is because there are too many damn democrats out there. >> the suggestion for what republicans have to do now is to follow in romney's foot steps and all of them need to become missionaries. >> what do we need to do? we need to convert and get more republicans.

>> that should be no problem. converting you for example to become ap are. what would it take? >> stop insulting me as an african-american, a woman, stop being insulting. tone is a big problem for the party. david has made a hot of these points. long ago the party out sourced their brain. because they outsourced it away from the thinkers and gave it to the entertainment guys, they said you go ahead and define conservatism. these people are taking your stuff. these black people. they are bad people. they are what is wrong with america.

how do you unlearn that because the political hats want to win and election? >> if any republican governor said anything about changing policies and it didn't come through today, you have been at this for a week now telling your party how much trouble they are in, what is happening in this first week and what is going to happen? >> the conversation we just saw a snip it of is a conversation of 2008. what you hear everywhere is the sound of ice cracking. the reason they lost wasn't good. but that is something that the party, that is not why the republicans failed to win in their congressional aces. this will be a lot of krit sam of the defeated candidate. that doesn't answer the question

what about the previous five elections. but i'm hearing everywhere the sounds of people thinking. it is slow, painful, and it becomes sometimes arg men tative, but that is what the progress looks and sounds like. >> i had a lot of people calling my radio show saying we have to explain and mitt romney has to tell people that barack obama is taking us towards socialism. and if people understand it, they will react. the poll came out six months ago. more people have a favorable opinion of socialism than of capitalism. >> my program is working. yeah. well, i mean this is an interesting challenge. medicare is socialism and a lot of the people that the government does is socialist programs.

we have a mixed economy that is much more capitalistic. the more the republicans try to drive home the notion of socialism as scary and the idea is look at president obama look at that stuff that he has done, people don't see socialism when they look at that. the republican base don't know what it is. they couldn't define it for them. >> they will define it. there is a tremendous amount. we have a 35% which is pretty good. we is a whole program that is called social security. it is esocialistic program. but the problem is that you can't do buzz words that means one thing. if you are on talk radio. it is never defined but the people who listen to that know that is bad. they don't know what you are

talking about. this inside joke they attempted to campaign that. a small part of the universe thinks it is big but it is actually quite small. >> when you object to what i want to do. everybody waits for your second line. they recognize that every country has a lot of socialism. it is a system of pooled risk. socialism and there is no good reason that these insurance programs could be administered

better through private markets. god forbid if he had done that with social security during the bush era. you would have more americans without. >> the hospitals aren't owned by the state. medicare is a social insurance. trying to make it, it is way too abstract. i think one of the great lines about american politics was from ferris buellers day off. he is playing hooky. today i have an exam on european eye ideology. i don't have a car. i'm out of work.

and i don't care what you call this program. put me to work. let me say that american's aspirations for themselves are capitalistic. they want a government framework that enables them to have more money. >> do you hear anything coming out of this conference that looks like they might be headed in the right direction. >> i hear people arguing over the technicalities. not a lot of ideas saying how do you set up the idea that is attractive to more than just your base? >> the ice is cracking. joy reid and david frum. author of the new ebook. >> coming up. john mccain's campaign of lies against susan rice and the stars at fox and friends didn't lose

their jobs or homes so they actually don't think anyone else in the city did. that is in the rewrite. coughequence™ #8. waking the baby. [ coughs ] [ baby crying ] ♪ [ male announcer ] robitussin® liquid formula soothes your throat on contact and the active ingredient relieves your cough. robitussin®. don't suffer the coughequences™. olaf gets great rewards for his small business! pizza! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! helium delivery. put it on my spark card! [ pop! ] [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve great rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet?

that's the sound of car insurance companies these days. here a cheap, there a cheap, everywhere a cheap... you get it. so, what if instead of just a cheap choice, you could make a smart choice? like, esurance for example. they were born online and built to save people money from the beginning. it's what they've always done. not just something they cheap about. that's insurance for the modern world. esurance. now backed by allstate. click or call. the capability of a pathfinder with the comfort of a sedan and create a next-gen s.u.v. with best-in-class fuel economy of 26 miles per gallon, highway, and best-in-class passenger roominess? yeah, that would be cool.

introducing the all-new nissan pathfinder. it's our most innovative pathfinder ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪

president obama visited staten island. and john mccain took time out from his busy schedule to go on

television and attack the president for what happened in benghazi among the things he had to miss by going on television, a senate briefing on what happened in benghazi that is next. makes watching tv even better. if your tv were a "ship in a bottle", zeebox would be a cage of seagulls. [ seagulls squawking ] pair a ship in a bottle with the melody of seagulls, and you have "atmosphere" and "ambience..." you my friend are downright nautical. download zeebox, free and feel like the captain of your tv. i have a cold... i took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't work on runny noses. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have an antihistamine. really? [ male announcer ] really. alka-seltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a fast acting antihistamine to relieve your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus.

♪ oh what a relief it is! ♪ [ male announcer ] can't find theraflu? try alka-seltzer plus for fast, liquid, cold, and flu relief.

we will do what is necessary to block the nomination. >> it turned out that while mccain was making that comment, he was missing a senate briefing related to the attack on benghazi at the same time that he was grandstanding in from of microphones. his current interpretation of his oath is that it is more

important for him to grandstand and lie in the senate briefing room than it is for him to tend to his sworn duties as a sworn senator. >> mccain's office tried to cover from him by saying that someone in the office made a scheduling error. that is yet another mccain lie. he was able to schedule more television time on the "today" show this morning where he adopted the graham rule in explaining condoleesa rice's failures. mccain voting for her confirm ration.

>> back in 2005 when you supported the nomination of condoleeza rice. she made the comment that the weapons of mass destruction might have been a mushroom cloud. you said the opponents were expressing sour grapes after an election loss. why is this different. >> because every intelligence agency in the world believed that iraq had weapons of mass destruction. that was a different situation. >> he is lying about the scheduling confusion thing. i worked in the senate. all the senators are talking about it. they are talking to each other about it beforehand.

they are talking to each other about it. mccain shirked what he otherwise would claim to be his duty to be in that brief. >> scheduling error is political speak. not likely the case or he just doesn't want to have to get to it. he clearly has something in his crawl when it comes to this line of argument. when confronted with the reality that a similar situation occurred, and again, the other thing that has come out about this, and again, i tend to think he might be lying, it is my understanding that in talking to folks in the administration, everybody had that same bit of information from the intelligence community, those were the talking points,

somebody had to go out to start to explain what was going on and susan happened to be the person who went and did it. as the physical cliff was looming, join had decided to looming, john had decided to hold hands and go off the truth cliff on ambassador rice and he is out there more alone than is normal in these situations. it is just the two of them in this extreme position. a couple of senators but really these guys are being treated like the plague in the senate. even mitt romney who is quick to jump on any republican talking

point ban backed away from this. coming off an election where republicans lost young women, lost minorities by massive margins. how is it going to look to the american people to have these senators attacking a relatively young african-american woman who was quite accomplished and deserves crediblity and respect and they are attacking her based on nothing. going back to what karen was saying, not only was she put forward, she was also very, careful to add caveats this is what we know but we have to wait for further information. it is not like she was making these statements and letting them hang out there. >> let's look at you how it went today. there was a house hearing on benghazi. let's look at that. >> now the president has the gall to float the name of

possible secretary of state the name of the person who was the actual vehicle used to misin actual vehicle used to misinform the american people during the crisis. we have four of our diplomatic personnel dead and it is a mccarthy tactic to demand that the american people are not misinformed about it to the point that they don't know what the threat is. >> smear, judgement about the facts are in, is mccarthyism. if you want to persist, in trying somehow to put this, lay this at the doorstep of the president or secretary of state or the united nations ambassador, you will find us ready and willing to resist to the teeth. >> karen, lindsey graham is the new joe mccarthy of the senate.

>> you may remember back when john mccain was running for president. his good friend graham was there to carry his water time and time again. but part of what makes this so shameful is both of these men know better. they actually also should remember that it took a year for the community to come back and say, they know that what they are doing is wrong. >> thank you both for joining me tonight. thank you. >> coming up, on the day. the very day, that the president of the united states came to new york city to see more of the damage done by hurricane sandy, today, the stars of fox and friends who actually work in new york city showed they have no

idea how bad hurricane sandy really was here. fox and friends are in tonight's rewrite. avoid bad. don't go over 2000... 1200 calories a day. carbs are bad. carbs are good. the story keeps changing. so i'm not listening... to anyone but myself. i know better nutrition when i see it: great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself. for multi grain flakes that are an excellent source of fiber try great grains banana nut crunch and cranberry almond crunch. you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. we have so much technology in our store to really show the customers what's going on with their bodies. you can see a little more pressure in the shoulders and in the hips. ... now you can feel what happens as we raise your sleep number setting and allow the bed to contour to your individual shape. oh, wow. that feels really good.

at sleep number we've created a collection of innovations dedicated to individualizing your comfort. the sleep number collection, designed around the innovative sleep number bed - a bed with dualair technology that allows you to adjust to the exact comfort your body needs. each of your bodies. so whatever you feel like, sleep number's going to provide it for you. during the final days of our semi-annual sleep sale, save $500 on our classic series special edition bed set plus special financing on selected beds but hurry sale ends sunday. you'll only find the innovative sleep number bed at one of our 400 stores, where queen mattresses start at just $699. he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the market, he goes with people he trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. so he can worry about other things, like what the market is doing

and being ready, no matter what happens, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense, from td ameritrade. the president walked through the deadly damage while the conspiracy theorists at fox news don't seem to know what happened to the city. fox and friends are next in the rewrite. melons!!! oh yeah!!

well that was uncalled for. folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy, ronny? happier than gallagher at a farmers' market. get happy. get geico. chances are, you're not made of money, so don't overpay for motorcycle insurance. geico, see how much you could save. to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long

sinus and headache relief. on the day that president obama went to staten island to witness first hand the destruction that hurricane sandy left on that part of the city. in another part of the city this happened. >> you wow. 439,000 unemployment claims were filed last week. >> are you kidding is it up? my goodness. >> we had to call and say, is that number right? and it looks like it is right. >> are you kidding? >> there is going to be something. >> they are saying, this has something to do with sandy. i'm sure. because the number is so much

higher than expeced. >> you have been suspicious from the bureau of statistics before. >> this is the first week after the election. does anyone find it odd that the weeks leading into the election the numbers went down. >> now sandy, when a storm hits you get fired? >> the department of labor is getting sketchier and sketchier with these numbers. >> most people who live and work in new york city have never been to staten island. >> the conspiracy theorists at fox news have obviously never been there. none of them could have walked the streets of death and destruction there. and then wonder why did jobless claims go up after the election which also happens to be after the hurricane? these same people who have never had an occasion to doubt the

bureau of labor statistics work under a republican president and the same people about anything including jobless claims, these same people suddenly believe that they are better calculators of jobless claims than the career professionals that work the numbers under both democrat and republican presidents. nevermind that twice in its own report the labor department cited an increase in jobless claims due to hurricane sandy in neighbors that were crushed by the hurricane. jobs were crushed too. there are stored in those neighbors that no longer exist. i saw stores and businesses burned to the ground and while no one got fired from the jobs.

but the jobs no longer exist. but the hurricane didn't break a single window in the fox news studio. there was no real damage at all. in this area i walked around times square at the height of the hurricane on that monday night and walked past the fox news studio and the most that i was exposed to was a light missed and that is how big new york city is and how peculiar hurricanes can be. nothing here and death and destruction a few mile as waxt the associated press issued the first summary saying quote, superstorm sandy drives u.s. weekly unemployment aid applications up. the ap reported the labor department said thursday that

weekly applications increased mostly because a large number of applications in states damaged by the storm. and they don't get paid. the storm has affected the claims data for the past two weeks and may distort reports for the next two weeks. sandy killed 109 people almost half of them were killed in new york city. it left people without power for weeks thousands of businesses were closed for more than a week without power at all. in fact more than 2300 customers still don't have power in new york city. nothing in the devastation brought by hurricane sandy could explain an increase in jobless claims in the fox news world where they were so quick to try to rewrite the borough of labor statistics.

how sealed off can you be in the fox news studio in the middle of manhattan? how sealed off from human suffering can you be? here is how sealed off you are. here is how far the studio is from staten island and lower manhattan and queens and everywhere else in new york city and the world. >> now, sandy, how could you possibly say that has anything to do with first time jobless claims when a storm hits you get fired? [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again.

time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. buy now. save later. [ man ] on in 5! [ female announcer ] it works as hard as you do... to outlast your day. [ man ] action! wow! [ female announcer ] secret outlast clear gel is better than the next leading invisible solid on white marks. secret outlast clear gel. is better than the next leading icustomer erin swensonte marks. bought so, i'm happy. today. sales go up... i'm happy. it went out today... i'm happy. what if she's not home? (together) she won't be happy.

use ups! she can get a text alert, reroute... even reschedule her package. it's ups my choice. are you happy? i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. (together) happy. i love logistics. anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ husband ] transfer! [ male announcer ] free data transfer at home. you just deleted all the photos! you did! no you did! [ male announcer ] or free data transfer when you buy a windows 8 computer at staples. another way staples makes it easier to upgrade.

this is all grass roots. the commissioners and fema these are people. staten island is helping staten islanders. there are more volunteers than there are people in need. it is grass roots and i am so not surprised. >> that was four days after hurricane sandy hit staten island. the first people to rush to help were other staten islanders. all eyes were on new jersey when president obama oo rived there. today the president took another look at what the storm did this

time in the neighborhood where it killed more people than any where else. president obama made this first visit to staten island 15 days after seeing what hurricane sandy did in new jersey. >> i had promised to everybody that i was speaking on behalf of the country when i said that we were going to be here until the rebuilding is complete. and i meant it. >> the president met with the parents of two of the youngest victims connor and brandon moore. >> he heard their stories and the story of nypd lieutenant kevin gallagher who stayed with the boy's bodies until they were recovered. >> he did that because that is what so many of our first

responders do. they go above and beyond the call of duty to respond to people in need. i want to give a shout out to lieutenant gallagher but i want to point out the moore's even in their grief asked me to mention him and that says something about them as well. and that is spirit and sense of togetherness and looking out for one another that is what is going to carry us through this tragedy. >> michael, you joins us by phone during the hate of this problem. you couldn't leave and shouldn't have. you are out there today with the president. how does this help. >> it helps tremendously. but to come out after this disaster, the worst disaster statten island as seen. it is a boost. it was a boost to people and it gave them hope.

>> when you walk those streets in midland beach. where it is fascinating to see how the water did it's job there. on a normal day, you didn't get a sense where it looks flat, but water finds any little valley to get into. you see you understand if the water could get across tho road the houses were going to get out. >> that is true. you didn't realize it was below sea level. >> you could live there and not know it. it is across a big beach, and a big road. >> i think a lot of people who live there didn't know it. it is family. and people have handed the house down.

and people have lived there not thinking there would be danger. >> where are the homeless of staten island now? >> right now the city had disaster relief centers and areas where they put the folks who were homeless. we had temporary housing in areas that were fit for families and fit for people who host their houses and we are trying to work with fema to get these folks permanent housing as they get their lives back. >> some of them they get them, shortly after the hurricane, i knew that. as soon as i saw what was happening there. the island is so big, there were parts where there was no damage at all and those people were driving down to help out unloading stuff.

>> you were lucky. you saw the best of staten island. it is the biggest small city in the country. and we all know each other. we are 500,000 people and in some way we know each other. either if we went to the same high school and everybody knows each other. and in times like this. 9/11 statten island was hit very hard. people are gathering together. i'm proud to be an elected official there. but i'm proud in instances like this. you see people wanting to help. we are trying to get people to help for the holidays. a lot of the clothes and food is coming but we want to be able to -- there is more to come down